Here I am writing another post from the phone. My no internet is still going strong. I wish I just would have said "no facebook", but I had to go all out. Anyway, this is my running blog so, let's talk some running.

Began the first day of my training and ran 3 miles. I ran it on the treadmill (with an incline of coarse!) I'm breaking in the new shoes. I will talk more about shoes next week. I'm still attempting to get up in the morning to go running, but I've failed. I don't want to go outside after work cause its too hot. Here's hoping I go tomorrow!

I learned about the history of the marathon and why its 26.2 miles in the book I'm reading. Wiki it. Interesting stuff. I learned it in a book!

JJ is making me a cake for my birthday and my parents stopped over. Penny the Pup enjoys visitors! Maybe a little bit too much

Time to eat carrot cake.

I decided to take one entire week off of not getting on the internet. I'm only going to be checking my email or stuff for work. I'm making this post from my phone, through a text message. So, I don't know if that's cheating but whatever. If the paragraphs look screwy that's why. :)

I bought a book called, "The Ultimate Training Guide" by Hal Higdon. I'm following his training program. I haven't started reading it yet, but I figured I would support him. I just want to read as much as I possibly can about marathon training as possible. The more I know the better I will be.

I also bought a Garmin 305 (google it). GPS watch to track my running outside! I also bought a 2GB Sansa MP3 player. I WAS going to buy a shuffle, but I need a screen. My iPod is too big so I needed something smaller.

Its my birthday tomorrow, so I bought gadgets.

Taking a break from the internet is a bitch.

My name should be: Mrs. Indecisive.

I've decided that Team in Training really isn't for me. I thought I had the desire to fund raise, but I don't. Trying to raise $3,900 when I don't have the desire is HARD. I don't really know anyone personally with a blood cancer. My great-aunt was diagnosed with Leukemia last year and I COULD run the race to honor her. However, I feel like that's using her to get donations. So, the desire to raise money really isn't there. I've tried for the past week to write a fund raising letter, and I can't. If I could write, "I want to run a marathon, give me money to run it in San Francisco", I would but that's not appropriate. I thought I wanted to make a difference, but it's a pain in the ass. The moment I decided to not train with the Team, my stress level went back to what it normally is. Normal.

My original idea was to run the Portland Marathon, (before I found out about Team in Training) because North-West Oregon = Ashley's favorite place. So, you know what I did tonight? I registered to run it. October 4, 2009.

But, I'm also planning on doing a half with my sister-in-law, Cher. So, we've been trying to find the best half-marathon we could run. My mom also also wants to complete a half marathon so she's GOING to run it with us (I'm hoping she reads this blog and that changes her mind cause she's on the edge of deciding if she could complete 13.1 miles). THEN! We got my sister in on it and she's GOING to complete it too (there I go hoping she's reading this entry cause she's sitting on the fence too). I mean, wouldn't THAT be something awesome to brag about? All four of us Dansie girls completing 13.1 miles? I think so. I also want them to experience what it's like to cross the finish line, because THAT makes it all worth it.

We found 2 half's in Utah that look fun. The Top of Utah in Logan on August 29, 2009 and The Other Half, in Moab on October 18th, 2009. It's just a matter of choosing.

Anyway, somehow I ended up at the website for the Rock 'n' Roll Las Vegas Marathon, (December 6, 2009) and I noticed that the race benefits the Crohn's and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA).

WHAT! That's right people. A marathon for Crohn's! Sweet!

So, I went on browsing and I found out that there is a endurance training program for the CCFA called, Team Challenge. Why didn't I research this before? REALLY?!? Now, THAT is something I could fund raise for. I could raise money for Chrons, easy! Because I've experienced it with JJ, and it SUCKS. I wrote a post about it on the old blog. That doesn't have the fun ER trips over Christmas, and the fact that it's May and JJ is finally starting to show improvement. I don't know if I will join the Team, but really?? THATS AWESOME.

I think I will sign up for the marathon even if the girls decide on something else and whatever they decide to run I will run it with them. I want to run a race for JJ. Depending on if I like running the full marathon in Oregon. It's close (wouldn't really cost all that much for lodging expenses). It sucks that it's in Vegas, but whatever. Rock 'n' Roll marathons are supposedly really fun.

I feel bad that I'm quiting Team in Training, cause I met some awesome people. Oh well, wasn't for me.

Here's to 18 weeks of training! Cheers!

Wow. Check out this guy:

My goal for this evening was to send out personalized messages to my friends on facebook asking for donations. I didn't want to send out the same message to everyone.

After 50 messages I was cut short. Facebook warned me that I was engaging in abusive behavior.

Haha. Funny.

I took Penny running with me today. I only had to run 2 miles, and she handled it quite well. I wanted to get a photo of her asleep but every time I made one slight movement, she woke up.

I love the after affect of taking her running. She just hangs out instead of being a spaz all-the-time.

I joined Team in Training(TNT) last week and committed to two things:

1)Running the Nike Women's Marathon at San Francisco on Sunday, October 18, 2009. All 26.2 miles of it.

2)Raising $3,900.00 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Yes, I realize these commitments are huge. But damn it, I'm going to achieve them.

TNT had our first training run on Saturday. I was apprehensive about going. I've always been a solo runner. It actually ended up being no big deal and I pretty much ran by myself the whole way (we ran 3 miles around Liberty Park). The team coach ran with me for a bit. I also met and talked with a few of the team members. So, my little shy self is looking forward to next Saturday.

The coach gave us a training schedule and right now it is easy! Which is perfectly fine with me. I've actually taken a few weeks off since I ran the Salt Lake City Half-Marathon. I didn't train very well for the half. I wish I had trained better and more. My time would have been 10x's better. But, I ran into a problem around January, and never got it taken care of. I was afraid to go get the problem fixed before I ran the half-marathon because I didn't want it to interfere with my training. Well, not taking care of it interfered anyway and I really regret not going to the doctor when I first noticed it. It was a ganglion cyst on the bottom of the ball of my left foot. I went to see a podiatrist about it 2 weeks ago. All he did was put a needle with steroids in it (which hurt like hell) and broke it up. The podiatrist worked miracles. It only took about two weeks to completely heal. When I ran on Saturday it didn't hurt! After running for 3 months with a small dull annoying pain it was so nice to actually be running, and not have my feet hurt! YESSS. I'm going to rock it with training.

The training schedule is pretty easy this week. Which, I'm cool with. I'm going to attempt a morning run tomorrow. It's only 2 miles (see what I mean?). But, I'm going to follow the schedule and see how things go. Since I've taken time off, it feels good to go on shorter runs. I'll probably take the dog with me tomorrow.

The fundraising is going somewhat okay. I've had one donor. GO AARON! I have to come up with a clever fundraising letter and I'm stumped. I just want to raise money to cure cancer and run a marathon. Easy right? RIGHT?

It feels good to be blogging again.